吃壽司安全嗎 Sushi addicts need to be aware of mercury toxicity risk

Is eating sushi safe?

吃壽司安全嗎？

During a recent meal with a Wall Street financial adviser, he mentioned that he eats sushi several times a week because he believed it to be the most healthful and convenient way to dine while continuing to work at his desk. I was left wondering if that was as healthful as he said, given the recent concern about mercury in fish.

最近我和一位華爾街財務顧問一起吃飯。席間他提到他每週要吃幾次壽司，因爲他認爲，如果要一邊用餐一邊繼續在辦公室工作，吃壽司是最健康和最便捷的選擇。考慮到最近人們對魚類含汞的憂慮，我不由懷疑吃壽司是否像他說的那麼健康。

All around the financial centres in London and New York, shops which once featured only simple sandwiches now stock different types of sushi and sashimi, including those made from various types of tuna. This despite the well-publicised concern when Richard Gelfond, CEO of the US cinema group Imax, reported that he had been diagnosed with mercury toxicity after eating sushi on a daily basis.

在倫敦和紐約的金融中心周邊，原本只供應簡易三明治的店鋪現在都售賣各種各樣的壽司和生魚片，包括用各種金槍魚製作的食品。儘管自從美國影院集團IMAX首席執行官理查德嬠爾方(Richard Gelfond)自稱因每天食用壽司而被診斷出汞中毒後，媒體已對這一問題進行了廣泛報道。

In addition, the actor Jeremy Piven, star of ITV’s Mr Selfridge franchise, also was reported to have been hospitalised for mercury toxicity from eating sushi.

此外，有報道稱，英國獨立電視臺(ITV)《塞爾弗裏奇先生》(Mr Selfridge)電視劇中的主演傑里米皮文(Jeremy Piven)也因食用壽司導致汞中毒被送往醫院。

While the European Food Safety Authority issued a new advisory notice on fish consumption earlier this year, it said that the types of fish consumed in Europe and fish-eating habits were so different across the continent that it was up to the individual countries to give specific advice.

儘管歐洲食品安全局(European Food Safety Authority)今年早些時候就魚肉攝入發佈了一項新的建議性通告，該局稱歐洲各國食用的魚肉種類和食用習慣相差極大，應該由各國提供具體建議。

Britain’s NHS has advice about canned tuna but not about sushi. The US Food and Drug Administration recently set its first minimum fish consumption target , emphasising the benefits of eating more low-mercury fish.

英國國家醫療服務體系(NHS)就金槍魚罐頭提出了建議，但沒有對壽司提出建議。美國食品藥品監督管理局(FDA)最近首次設定魚肉最小攝入量指標，強調了食用更多低汞含量魚的益處。

Given this confusion, I asked Michael Gochfeld, who has studied mercury toxicity for 30 years, what his best advice is about fish consumption.

考慮到這種混亂的狀況，我詢問了研究汞中毒長達30年的邁克爾戈克費爾德(Michael Gochfeld)，他對攝入魚肉有什麼好建議。

Dr Gochfeld, an adjunct clinical professor in the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute at New Jersey’s Rutgers University, said most people do eat too little fish, an excellent source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown in some studies to be protective against heart disease and cancer. But he acknowledged that there can be too much of a good thing.

戈克費爾德博士是新澤西州羅格斯大學(Rutgers University)環境和職業健康科學研究所的客座臨牀教授。他表示大多數人魚肉攝入量太少。魚類是理想的蛋白質和omega-3脂肪酸的來源。一些研究表明，這種脂肪酸能夠預防心臟病和癌症。但他坦言，好事做過了頭就成了壞事。

“If you eat fish rarely, such as less than once a month, it’s likely that your health will benefit from eating more fish,” Dr Gochfeld explains. “If you eat fish frequently, more than twice a week, you have to pay attention to eating low mercury fish if you don’t want to get food poisoning.”

“如果你很少吃魚，比如一個月少於一次，那麼食用更多魚很可能有益於你的健康，”戈克費爾德博士解釋稱：“如果你經常吃魚，一週超過兩次，那麼不想食物中毒的話，你就必須注意要食用汞含量低的魚。”

Among the fish that have been found to have the highest mercury content are swordfish, shark, marlin and albacore tuna. “If you go to a high-end sushi bar in New York, the chances are the tuna sushi will be bigeye tuna with high mercury levels,” he says, adding that in Japan, sushi is a prized delicacy but eaten only once a month. Sushi is often made from fish other than tuna, which can be safe to eat in larger quantities.

汞含量最高的魚類包括劍魚、鯊魚、槍魚和長鰭金槍魚。“如果你去紐約的高檔壽司店，有可能金槍魚壽司是用高汞含量的大目金槍魚製作的，”他表示，並補充道，在日本，壽司是人們珍愛的美味，但人們一個月只食用一次。壽司通常是用金槍魚以外的魚類製作的，在大量食用的情況下，這些壽司可能較爲安全。

This mercury warning is especially true for pregnant women. “Having even one meal with high mercury fish, like one swordfish serving, at the wrong time could have an impact on a developing foetus,” Dr Gochfeld cautions.

孕期女性尤其要注意汞中毒的警告。“在不適當的時機，就算只食用一次高汞含量的魚，比如一道劍魚菜餚，就可能影響發育中的胚胎，”戈克費爾德博士告誡。

While he loves tuna sushi himself, he restricts his consumption to once a month and eats low mercury fish such as salmon a couple of times a week.

儘管戈克費爾德博士本人也愛吃金槍魚壽司，他把攝入量控制在每月一次，並且每週食用幾次三文魚等低汞含量魚。

That advice is similar to the counsel from the British government, which says that pregnant women and young children should not eat swordfish, shark or marlin, and that other adults should limit their intake to one portion a week. As for me, I love salmon so that is my dietary mainstay, but also eat other low-mercury fish.

這個建議和英國政府提出的忠告相似，英國政府表示孕期婦女和幼童不宜食用劍魚、鯊魚或者槍魚，其他成年人也應該將攝入量限制在一週一次。就我個人而言，我非常愛吃三文魚，因此三文魚是我食譜的主要組成部分，但我也吃其他低汞含量的魚。